In aircraft and launch vehicle construction, various surfaces, such as the skin of an aircraft, may be attached to structural support members known as stringers or stiffeners. In aircraft fuselage, stringers are attached to the fuselage skin run in the longitudinal direction of the aircraft. They are primarily responsible for transferring the aerodynamic loads acting on the skin onto internal structures including frames. In the wings or horizontal stabilizer of an aircraft, stringers attach to the wing skin and their primary function here also is to transfer the bending loads acting on the wings onto internal structures such as ribs and spars.
Traditional manufacturing of stiffening members on composite parts can be tooling intensive. Given the scale of aircraft wings and fuselages, forming and handling equipment for these parts can be expensive, heavy, and require extensive factory floor space. Use of such equipment can also incur undesirable amounts of time and labor.
Thus there exists a need for improved systems and methods for manufacturing aircraft support structures that reduce the need for labor, extensive tooling, factory space, and material handling equipment.